Agree:
- America willing to be violent to defend capitalism
- Multi-cultural diversity fuelling hate-groups (KKK etc)
- Hooligan culture? meh
- Development of automatic weapons and more accurate firearms make it easier to pop a cap in yo ass.
- There will be some figure somewhere comparing American gun-related deaths to other countries
- Miners strikes/student movements
DiSagree:
- UK abolishing death penalty as has most of US
- General cultural harmony.
- general anti-establishmentarianism has died down.

I'd say they reached a high point in the sixties/seventies/eighties, and now it has died down a bit

the death penalty, which hit it's peak in 2000 as far as number of executions since it was re-introduced, according to stats. It's a good title, means I can ramble on about the nature and meaning of violence and how one interprets crime statistics along with quoting boring statistics. Should probably start writing it, though.

what is interesting is that the years in which the rates of execution were the highest (late 90's through to early 00's) coincided with a significant drop in the homicide rates which are now increasing again

it comes and goes in waves. You must also assess the intesity of the violence. despite the level of fatality, in terms of violence a shooting cannot equalt the level of violence involved in the widespread lynchings that occured in america in the period of 1900- 1920's. I think britains population- violence ratio has decreased, but it also depends on what you count as violence and entertainment. Many violent forms of entertainment in the 1800s are now outlawed, and its tempting to brush over this violence as purely entertainment and discount it.

general attitudes to violence have changed dramatically since the beginning of the 19th century. No more public executions, cock-fighting, all the good stuff. It was also acceptable for one man to kill another if he was being insulted. People were always charged with manslaughter and never homicide on these occasions. One actor killed another in Covent Garden, for saying he wasn't very good.